6+ months of alpha is normal for an expansion ?

[Manabomb]

It's normal for this expansion. More alpha testing less beta testing. Hopefully they end up with a better product.

This simply isn't true. Longer and more accessible beta testing means more chances of players finding obscure bugs that the developers would never had a chance to flush out. Having 2 million people participate in a beta that lasts 8 months is bad, but so is having less than 100k participating in a beta that lasts 2-3 months.

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You know what's normal? Players whining when Blizzard takes time, then whining when Blizzard rushes content and it's full of bugs.

You know what would be swell? If Blizzard would buck up and release quality content that was adequately user tested and nigh bug free at a pace that was just slightly faster than their current snail race pace. But asking for that is like asking for black voodoo magic, someone is going to end up on a stake and crispy.

[Lockrocker75]

i think blizz are more worried about wildstar than any other mmo. not saying wowkiller, but it seems like it has major traction right now. They will want to thwart the growth if they can given the development slate of WoD & current state of Siege of Orgrimmar

I agree, I don't think it will be a WoW killer, but the game over all is nice. I've been playing Beta for Wildstar last few weeks, even pre ordering the game, because I have actually been able to sit down and play it for a few hours at a time. WoW, I can barely bring myself to log in right now. Haven't pre ordered WoD yet, and still on the fence if i even want to continue playing WoW.

[Zoshkosh]

Consider the fact that maybe the original followup to MoP wasn't WoD and the original got scrapped around the time of the first Titan or shortly thereafter. Maybe summer/fall 2013 was a fubar game of catch-up because of this. I mean this launch is running in contrary to the goals they stated numerous times in the past. Now the spin machine is blowing sugar up our butts. Ockham's razor.......

[Daagar]

Reduce- Iconic class abilities, complexity and meaningful rotations, usefulness of any one class in a raid group
Reuse- A continent from 3 expansions ago, a story arch from 3 games ago, and characters that would otherwise be dead
Recycle- A beaten to death plot-line, the nostalgia goggles for TBC, bossfight mechanics that make patchwerk seem complex

The three R's of Warlords of Draenor.

But Warlords of Draenor has 4 R's!

[SL1200]

This simply isn't true. Longer and more accessible beta testing means more chances of players finding obscure bugs that the developers would never had a chance to flush out. Having 2 million people participate in a beta that lasts 8 months is bad, but so is having less than 100k participating in a beta that lasts 2-3 months.

I'm just trying to keep a positive attitude. I want to wait and see what they deliver before I judge the process. Maybe they'll be right and we'll get a better product this way. It's not like they won't have any beta testing.

This isn't the same old wow team we're dealing with anymore. A lot of change has happened at blizz HQ. I wanna see what they've created before i'm too judgmental.

[Mormolyce]

I don't remember how long MoP was in alpha, but most expansions are released like a year after the last content of the previous one. So I'd say it's normal.

Given Wildstars release next month and Blizzards attempts to disrupt upcoming MMOs I predict beta will launch then or shortly after.

#conspiracytheories